Tuscola County Medical Care Facility's fight against coronavirus

The facility's efforts to contain and stop the spread of COVID-19 appear to be successful

By Sara Eisinger, sara.eisinger@hearstnp.com

Published
12:55 pm EDT, Thursday, April 23, 2020

The Tuscola County Medical Care Center has been the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Tuscola County. However, officials have been battling the virus and are hopeful they have it contained. (Courtesy Photo)

The Tuscola County Medical Care Center has been the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Tuscola County. However, officials have been battling the virus and are hopeful they have it contained. (Courtesy

The Tuscola County Medical Care Center has been the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Tuscola County. However, officials have been battling the virus and are hopeful they have it contained. (Courtesy Photo)

The Tuscola County Medical Care Center has been the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Tuscola County. However, officials have been battling the virus and are hopeful they have it contained. (Courtesy

TUSCOLA COUNTY — As of Thursday, April 23, 2020 the Tuscola County Medical Care Facility was 13 days clear of any new COVID-19 cases. CEO Brenda Kretzschmer was hopeful that when Friday rolled around, the facility would be 14 days free of any new cases.

“It’s been the biggest mountain I have ever had to climb,” Kretzschmer said. “It’s been something I had never imagined, and I have been a nurse for 40 years.”

Nearly 14 days without a new case and down to five positive cases, the facility may finally be able to celebrate its first milestone.

It’s no secret that since the first confirmed case in Tuscola County on March 20, the medical care center has been a hotbed for COVID-19 cases, ambushed with 18 positive cases and nine related deaths.

This left Kretzschmer, staff, residents, families, and the community grief stricken. Sadness did not mean defeat; it just meant that the fight was on. Within the facility’s four walls and on each of its three levels, war was waged against the deadly pandemic.

According to the CEO, her facility follows all regulations and recommendations set forth by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization.

“We’ve been working very collaboratively to keep us successful, in having contained it and stopped it,” Kretzschmer said.

She talked about the difficulties involved when keeping such a highly contagious virus mitigated in a long-term care center.

“The mere size of the building creates a problem,” Kretzschmer said.

The facility has capacity for up to 159 clients. Yet, staff has managed to contain the virus to one floor.

“Any place where you have people breathing in the same air, without barriers, the virus will travel,” Kretzschmer said. “You have to have barriers. It’s the key to containment.”

Kretzschmer explained that if the client in bed number one gets sick, then the individual in bed number two will get sick. It does not matter that they are more than six feet away and do not share items.

She also discussed how the four cardinal symptoms associated with COVID-19 were not what they have seen in their elderly clients.

“They may never have a cough, and some never a temperature,” Kretzschmer said. “What we are seeing is a change in mental baseline.”

Some complained of not feeling well, accompanied by nausea, at which time they were placed in isolation immediately.

She talked about how long-term care facilities are at the bottom of the list to receive personal protective equipment from the government.

“Stock-piles of PPE went to hospitals,” Kretzschmer said.

The CEO and her staff thanked the efforts of the community and nearby businesses for sewing cloth breathing masks and donating other medical PPE supplies.

This includes the loan of the facility’s first ultraviolet light sanitizer from UV Cleaning Systems in Marlette. Since then, the center has purchased eight UV machines to sanitize their PPE.

“This was a turning point for us,” Kretzschmer said.

Staff members clean with soap and water, chemical sanitizer, and UV light sanitization. Resident rooms are cleaned and sanitized daily. All community spaces are cleaned multiple times a day and after every use.

Travel into resident rooms is allowed only by authorized nursing and medical staff, to include aids. Nursing staff members take food trays to resident rooms and the aids leave garbage out in the hallways to be picked up.

Everyone is screened twice a day. If a staff member exhibits any symptoms of a cold or flu, they are sent home.

“If they don’t feel well for any reason, regardless of the symptoms, they are done for the day,” Kretzschmer said.

The employee must remain symptom free for 72 hours, display no fever and have been cleared by a doctor before returning to work.

“If someone isn’t feeling well, we send them with an order to get tested,” Kretzschmer said.

MDHHS has recommended that health care providers utilize NxGen MDx to expand COVID-19 testing. The facility will partner with the health company to receive specimen collection materials, so that they may conduct their own testing. They will then ship the test materials back to NxGen for results to be read.

“This gives us the opportunity to test more rapidly,” Kretzschmer said. “They don’t have to have symptoms anymore.”

As the 14th day of no new COVID-19 cases approached, the facility hopes to once again be able to open its doors to new admissions. Kretzschmer knows the facility wouldn’t be as successful in its battle against COVID-19 without its dedicated employees, help from the health department and LARA, generosity from local businesses, and all its community support.

“The outpouring of trust and compassion people have demonstrated warms my heart, Kretzschmer said. “The staff here have been phenomenal.”